tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post7816885954822501658..comments2024-03-19T21:15:51.676+11:00Comments on ART and ARCHITECTURE, mainly: Harry Seidler, second generation Bauhaus architect in AustraliaHelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-67761120404297553132019-05-20T20:40:09.494+10:002019-05-20T20:40:09.494+10:00Joseph
well done! The Long Synopsis is excellent ...Joseph<br /><br />well done! The Long Synopsis is excellent and then people can decide whether to see the documentary or not. I always think architecture, and garden design, should be seen in 3 dimensions if possible.<br /><br />Hels<br />https://www.filmartmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/PRESS-KIT-AUS-HARRY-SEIDLER-FINAL-18.10.16.pdfHelshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-54363256770699273032019-05-20T15:13:15.809+10:002019-05-20T15:13:15.809+10:00See the first documentary retrospective of Harry S...See the first documentary retrospective of Harry Seidler’s architectural legacy. "Harry Seidler: Modernist" gives a portrait of the man's life and internationally recognised work, via visits to his buildings, newspaper reports and interviews with leading architects from around the world, including his architectural wife.<br /><br />The film and your post are close, except the film stressed the long struggle Seidler faced from councils and from other architects in Sydney.<br /> Josephhttps://www.filmartmedia.com/projects/harry-seidler-modernist/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-71306506387815115232017-03-09T23:54:03.991+11:002017-03-09T23:54:03.991+11:00Anon
1939-1923 is 16, but I want to make my point...Anon<br /><br />1939-1923 is 16, but I want to make my point again. A 16 year old lad needs to be in school, especially a lad whose parents were still in Austria. I wonder if Harry Seidler had a legal guardian, in their absence. He was in internment camp on the Isle of Man before being shipped to Quebec and continued to be interned there until October 1941 when he was 18 at last. Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-7979589689855011442017-03-09T12:36:46.551+11:002017-03-09T12:36:46.551+11:00I don't think it was immoral. If my father vol...I don't think it was immoral. If my father volunteered the minute he turned 18, my uncle joined a hospital unit under age and spent much of the war in a POW camp in Poland and my former father- in- law at 18 enlisted and fought all the way down the Malay peninsular and spent from 1942-1954 as a POW in Japan witnessing the second atomic bomb, it is hardly unreasonable to expect an evacuee to join the war effort against his oppressor. He could have easily enlisted when 18 either in a Canadian or a US Unit and worked in a survey corps using the qualifications he already had. The myth that Harry was badly done by in England and Canada has for some unknown reason been woven into the idea that he struggled against adversity to become a celebrated architect. It had nothing to do with his obvious skill and should not be used as a distortion of history.<br /><br /> Read Elizabeth Farrely's recent revue of the latest Seidler bio. <br /><br /> I spend quiet a bit of time ensuring the conservation of several Seidler designs and support his work but not this ongoing claim that in a time when 50 million were killed, his experiences were the fault of those who gave him asylum while their own children were committed to a war they did not seek. Other emigre architects to Australia during the war years readily worked in camouflage units, and shock horror! factories. <br />Finally the war broke out in September 1939 by which time Harry would have been 17 not 16. <br />Anon again. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-31344166061232688662017-03-03T16:51:02.711+11:002017-03-03T16:51:02.711+11:00Anon
Seidler was born in June 1923 so he was stil...Anon<br /><br />Seidler was born in June 1923 so he was still a young lad when the war broke out in mid 1939. The idea of giving a 16 year old a choice between joining in the war effort in some way or facing internment would have been immoral. Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-33041543753084983282017-03-03T15:01:40.054+11:002017-03-03T15:01:40.054+11:00Whilst much of your article is interesting it perp...Whilst much of your article is interesting it perpetuates a myth spread as much by the man himself as his biographers. A former [also Viennese Jewish] professor and contemporary of Harry's in Sydney corrected this myth repeatedly. When both were dwelling in England at the outbreak of war they and other refugees[regardless of creed] were given a choice- join an organization helping the war effort or face internment. Harry's contemporary enlisted and fought in an armoured car unit through to the end of the war. Harry for what ever reason decline to join the war effort. He was not required to enlist simply to help combat Nazism. <br /><br />Can we have a bit more respect for those including the Professor who did join the war effort in thanks to their host country. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-41928789389060684502014-08-17T10:33:49.594+10:002014-08-17T10:33:49.594+10:00Mandy
In May 1940, under the threat of German inv...Mandy<br /><br />In May 1940, under the threat of German invasion, the British government interned about 30,000 German-speaking residents, mainly Jewish refugees from the Third Reich. The special status of the Isle of Man meant the prison served as a constitutional black hole, like Guantanamo Bay. Spouses were split up and children were removed from parents.<br /><br />But that shouldn't stop you buying a Bauhaus inspired house in the UK. Just have a look at the Lawn Road Flats in Belsize Park in Hampstead, for one example.<br />http://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/spies-writers-and-artists-in-hampstead.htmlHelshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-43893377593356925862014-08-17T05:52:22.432+10:002014-08-17T05:52:22.432+10:00Oh dear. There I was, just about ready to start lo...Oh dear. There I was, just about ready to start looking for a home of our own in the UK and now I'm ruined. Nothing will ever be good enough now that I want a Bauhaus design house!!<br /><br />I'm appalled at how he was treated in England. I think we came so close to a Nazi puppet state here.Mandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11931248631361366673noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-87917018522006722602014-08-06T21:36:45.660+10:002014-08-06T21:36:45.660+10:00Student,
*nod* I also think the long walls of gla...Student,<br /><br />*nod* I also think the long walls of glass and flat roofs would have been unsuitable for snowy climes. So why did the Bauhaus architects build differently in the USA (and Australia)?<br /><br />The Bauhausers used local, rural materials and large glass windows to set the house in its block. They wanted nothing to disturb the long view and they wanted to bring the natural environment right up to the house.<br />Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-41139149469068953282014-08-06T21:21:00.101+10:002014-08-06T21:21:00.101+10:00Parnassus
I read From Bauhaus To Our House by Tom...Parnassus<br /><br />I read From Bauhaus To Our House by Tom Wolfe years ago. Needless to say, he loathed every.. single ..detail of Bauhaus architecture, on both ideological and aesthetic grounds. <br /><br />Wolfe was wrong, but he did make clear how anti-foreign (meaning European) and how anti-modern many peoples' views were in 1981. I adored Bauhaus and was shocked by his views.Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-63726474368191367452014-08-06T11:02:56.378+10:002014-08-06T11:02:56.378+10:00In lectures, we wondered if the glass walls were b...In lectures, we wondered if the glass walls were better suited climatewise to Australia and California than to northern Germany, northern USA and Czechoslovakia.Student of Historynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-16411353947918543862014-08-06T10:45:26.614+10:002014-08-06T10:45:26.614+10:00Hello Hels, These Bauhaus houses today have a no...Hello Hels, These Bauhaus houses today have a nostalgic look about them, and when the products of the original designers, one can see the built-in design quality. On the other hand, we were just taking a drive today (in Ohio) and noticing how all of the recently-built houses (the kind with giant arches and superfluous gables) were extra hideous. I wonder if the world will ever look fondly on these?<br />--JimParnassushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08958901307538141468noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-75090064916754343622014-08-05T23:03:13.951+10:002014-08-05T23:03:13.951+10:00Joe
sometimes I amaze myself with the timing. I w...Joe<br /><br />sometimes I amaze myself with the timing. I wrote the post on Harry Seidler a few months ago, and didn't realise till this July that Penelope Seidler was the winning model in the most important portrait award in Australia.<br /><br />In her acceptance speech, Lowry said she had wanted to paint Seidler, an architect and board member of the Biennale of Sydney, against a backdrop filled with memories and history. She said “Often it's about recording that response in a landscape. In this case we went to Penelope's house, an iconic house in Killara which she designed with her late husband, Harry Seidler, in the 1960s.” <br /><br /><br /><br />Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-49482818445381777532014-08-05T22:55:39.853+10:002014-08-05T22:55:39.853+10:00Jane and Lance,
I too followed the Bauhaus Trail ...Jane and Lance,<br /><br />I too followed the Bauhaus Trail from Weimar to Dessau and finally Berlin... and loved every minute of it. <br /><br />The transference of ideas always happened throughout history, often following pilgrim routes across Europe or along the Silk Road from Istanbul to China. But how much more amazing was this transference in, as you say, the very worst of circumstances!Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-66299780912748054942014-08-05T22:49:47.156+10:002014-08-05T22:49:47.156+10:00Andrew
I felt so sorry for young Seidler. He was...Andrew<br /><br />I felt so sorry for young Seidler. He was tossed around between Austria, Britain, Canada and, more voluntarily this time, the USA. It was only when he finally got to Australia that he was surrounded by his family again, in peace.<br /><br />But didn't he knock the socks off those 1950s Sydneysiders? :)Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-80681644783487161902014-08-05T20:56:48.082+10:002014-08-05T20:56:48.082+10:00I love your timing. This year's Archibald Priz...I love your timing. This year's Archibald Prize went to Fiona Lowry for her stunning portrait of Penelope Seidler.Joenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-13022539854126398202014-08-05T19:15:48.014+10:002014-08-05T19:15:48.014+10:00Hello Helen,
This is a most intriguing trail of t...Hello Helen,<br /><br />This is a most intriguing trail of the Bauhaus influence to Australia. It is amazing how the transference of ideas took place even in the most inauspicious of circumstances.<br /><br />We were totally entranced when we visited the Bauhaus University in Weimar last year. So many architects and artists were influenced by this movement and elements of their designs and works are to be found throughout the building. It is so very interesting and we are sure that you would find it fascinating if you have not already been.<br /><br />We love the dramatically contemporary lines of the Seidler houses.Jane and Lance Hattatthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16831890261259302647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-70166008170857983482014-08-05T18:48:28.264+10:002014-08-05T18:48:28.264+10:00I have mixed reactions to his architecture, but wo...I have mixed reactions to his architecture, but wow, how badly he was treated by England. No matter, England's loss and our gain.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com